Good Morning,
I am registering today for FTCC medical trnscriptionist program and I just had a couple of questions for any current medical transcriptionist working from home. I was wondering what company you work for? Whats your work schedule is like and is it flexible? And in your opinion what are the pros and cons of being a medical transcriptionist?

Hi NoodleMommie,
Honestly you should try out transcription first before jumping headfirst into a medical transcription class. I do general transcription and not medical transcription. I've heard on here that there is a lot of competition for medical transcription.

Have you done any transcription yet? If not, Quicktate and/or Call Graph are 2 places you can get a start at to see if you like it. You can always take a medical transcription course later on if you find that you like it and are good at it.

There is a post on one of the forums by Crouton that is an excellent description of what is involved in transcription.

Most transcription companies, from my experience, allow you to work when you want to. One of the ones I work for, I just post my availability on their calendar. I know that Call Revu only wants full time and you have to work a set schedule. The other two I currently do work for; you just sign in when you want and take or do files.

I have worked at home as medical transcriptionist for about 7 years. The pay can range anywhere from 07 a word or 9.5 cents a word. There are companies out there, as mentioned in a previous post, that will hire beginners. I currently work for a company where I sign in when I want work so there are not set hours. Many companies require you to be on during a slated time slot. If you want to do hospital-based work, they like experience to do so. You will not get rich but it will be an income.

I don't do medical transcription, but I do legal transcription. I know in legal transcription, in the insurance defense and Workers' Comp defense, there are a lot of medical terms that really blow me out of the water sometimes.

Any kind of transcription requires a lot of "hearing" what the individual says. Anybody can transcribe, but you have to listen and hear what the individual says at the same of transcribing. You can type something and when you get the document back from editing it will be something totally different from what you typed if you're not careful. I know this from an individual that had never worked legal before got really upset because her work was sent back to her several times because she had totally gotten everything wrong in the document.

Yes, you can make great money at transcription, especially medical and legal. But if I were you, I would not jump right into medical without some kind of training. I've had years of training in legal and I still question myself on things sometimes. I'm constantly asking questions to my account managers, but I can pretty much fly blind in legal transcription because I've been doing it so long. I am constantly upgrading books, etc. trying to make sure I'm ahead of the game on this.

Just always take pride in what you do. If you choose to be a medical transcriptionist, I would take some classes before trying to jump right in.

Hope that helps you.

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Legal Transcriptionist Sten-Tel and Local Court Reporters/The opinions of my children do not reflect those of my own.

I have worked at home as medical transcriptionist for about 7 years. The pay can range anywhere from 07 a word or 9.5 cents a word. There are companies out there, as mentioned in a previous post, that will hire beginners. I currently work for a company where I sign in when I want work so there are not set hours. Many companies require you to be on during a slated time slot. If you want to do hospital-based work, they like experience to do so. You will not get rich but it will be an income.

Where do you work that you get 7 to 9.5 cents a word? The going rate is 6 or 7 cents a line, surely that is a typo you made there.

I do mostly general for the entertainment industry (film and tv), but also a good deal of medical meetings. I found that the medical terminology course that I took (you can usually find one at a local community college) helped me a ton with the med meetings that I do.

As has been said here already, it's all about hearing the right things. A suggestion might be to find an audio file online and take a listen, see what you get out of it. I know many, many people who thought they would love it, and just didn't. It takes a lot of practice, that's what will be your best tool.

As for hours, the companies/ clients that I work with let me work when I want. I do have a 4yo at home, so I work just a couple hours during the day, but mostly when the kids have gone to bed.

You asked for pros and cons: there are so many of both, but what I have learned the hard way, working from home is exhausting. It seems ideal especially if you have kids, but there have been times where I find myself putting in very long days, and I didn't have anyone to tell me to stop and go home.

I've never heard of FTCC. Make sure you pick a school that's approved by AHDI. It's very difficult to get a job without experience and the school makes a big difference in your success. You don't want to spend money and time only to find out nobody will hire you.

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What the heck is medical transcription? Go to MT Chat and MT Desk and find out!